JANE: To be frank, McLaren, you didn’t come off terribly well on the stand.
MARSHALL: The hell is that supposed to mean? I did exactly what we prepped for, I evaded all her fucking questions, I said I had no memory of the fucking thing, which you and I both know—
JANE: —is a totally plausible claim and I’d rather you not tell me otherwise because then I’d know that you’d just knowingly perjured yourself in a court of law—
MARSHALL: So what the hell is that supposed to mean, that I didn’t come off terribly well?
JANE: It just means that you’re not terribly … how should I put this … likable.
Beat.
MARSHALL: Yeah, no shit, I’m not likable. No shit. (beat) Is that gonna be a problem?
JANE: Well. Probably not.
MARSHALL: Jane. You gotta tell me. Is it a problem?
JANE: Look. They don’t have a leg to stand on legally. It’s a flimsy argument and they know it. But if Dao comes off well, and you don’t, there is always the possibility that—and it’s slim, but there is a possibility—that the jury will sympathize with him and not you. And, well, ignore the facts.
Beat.
MARSHALL: That’s a possibility, then.
JANE: As I’ve said, their argument is thin, and I think, as an American, they’re more likely to sympathize with you than with a Chinese plaintiff. But … as a human being …
Beat.
MARSHALL: You offered them ten?
JANE: Yes.
MARSHALL: Offer them twenty. I gotta get back to fucking work.
RICHARD: Then we’ll move on to your arrest and time in prison.
EVA: Then we’ll ask about your arrest and time in prison.
然后我们会问你关于你被逮捕和监禁的时间。
Ránhòu wǒmen huì wèn nǐ guānyú nǐ bèi dàibǔ hé jiānjìn de shíjiān.
RICHARD: Jules?
JULIE: (to Dao) Right, so, Mr Li. How long were you held in detention?
EVA: How long were you held in detention?
你被拘留了多久？
Nǐ bèi jūliú le duōjiǔ?
DAO: From 2006 to 2011, for 53 months.
从二零零六年到二零一一年，总共五十三个月。
Cóng èr líng líng liu nián dào èr líng yī yī nián, zoňggòng wušhísāngè yuè.
EVA: From 2006 to 2011, for 53 months.
JULIE: And during that time, you lost your ability to walk?
EVA: And during that time, you lost your ability to walk?
在这期间，你是否失去了行走的能力？
Zài zhè qíjiān, nǐ shìfǒu shīqùle xíngzǒu de nénglì?
DAO: Yes.
是。
Shi.
EVA: Yes.
JULIE: How did that happen?
EVA: What happened?
怎么发生的？
Zeňme fāshēng de?
DAO: There were a number of contributing factors.
有各种影响因素。
Yǒu gèzhoňg yǐngxiǎng yīnsù.
EVA: There were a number of contributing factors.
Beat.
JULIE: Tell him he has to actually describe the incident.
EVA: You have to describe the incident.
你必须描述这事件。
Nǐ bìxū miáoshù zhè shìjiàn.
DAO: I was abused.
我被虐待了。
wǒ bèi nüèdàile.
EVA: I was abused.
JULIE:… in what way?
EVA: In what way?
怎么样的虐待？
Zeňme yàng de nüèdài?
DAO: You said that if I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t have to.
你说过如果我不想提起这些，我没必要。
Nǐ shuōguò rúguǒ wǒ bùxiǎng tíqǐ zhèxiē, wǒ méi bìyào.
EVA: You said that if I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t have to.
JULIE: You … don’t.
RICHARD: No, that’s why we’re asking you these questions again now, so you can tell us if there’s anything you’re not comfortable answering.
EVA: That’s why we’re asking you these questions again now, so you can tell us if there’s anything you’re not comfortable answering.
这就是为什么我们现在再次问您这些问题，这样您可以告诉 我们有什么您不想回答的。
Zhè jiùshì wèishéme wǒmen xiànzài zàicì wèn nǐ zhèxiē wèntí, zhèyàng nín kěyǐ gàosù wǒmen yǒu shé me nín bùxiǎng huídá de.
JULIE: But just saying you were physically abused is a bit … vague, the jury won’t understand what you mean.
EVA: Jules.
JULIE: He has to go into more detail. (to Eva) Evie. Tell him that.
EVA: She says you have to go into more detail. Or the jury will be confused.
她说你必须详细形容, 否则陪审团会搞不清楚。
Tā shuō nǐ bìxū xiángxì xíngróng, fǒuzé péisheň tuán huì gǎo bù qīngchǔ.
DAO: What do you want? I’m here. I’m saying what you want me to say. Is there nothing that I’m allowed to keep private?
你还想要什么?我在这。我在说你要我说的话。我没有任何 隐私了吗? Nǐ hái xiǎng yào shénme? wǒ zài zhè. wǒ zài shuō nǐ yào wǒ shuō dehuà. wǒ méiyǒu rènhé yǐnsīle ma?
EVA: What do you want from me? I’m here. I’m saying what you want me to say. Is there nothing that I’m allowed to keep private?
JULIE: Why he is getting so upset?
DAO: Why did you talk about my wife?
你为什么提起我的妻子？
Nǐ wèishéme tíqǐ wǒ de qīzi?
Beat.
RICHARD: Evie, what was that?
EVA: (to Julie) He wants to know, uh, why you brought his wife up, in your opening remarks.
JULIE: To give the—I had to give the full picture, your wife leaving is part of the context of this case, what we need to make clear is, is that compensation is warranted—
EVA: (staggered) She wanted to give the jury context.
她是为了帮陪审团了解背景。
Tā shì wèile bāng péisheň tuán liǎojiě bèijǐng.
DAO: Is this why you tried to persuade me that my wife would stand by me, no matter the cost?
你说我的妻子不管怎么样都会支持我，就是为了这个吗？
Nǐ shuō wǒ de qīzi bùguǎn zěnme yàng dūhuì zhīchí wǒ, jiùshì wèile zhège ma?
THE TRANSLATOR: (staggered) Is this why you tried to persuade me that my wife would stand by me, no matter the cost? JULIE /
RICHARD: Evie? Evie?
DAO: You thought if she left me you could use it as additional evidence?
你觉得她离开了我你可以用它作为额外的证据吗？
Nǐ juédé tā líkāile wǒ nǐ kěyǐ yòng tā zuòwéi éwài de zhèngjù ma?
THE TRANSLATOR: (staggered) You thought if she left me you could use it as additional evidence?
EVA: No that wasn’t—
那不是—
Nà bú shì—
DAO: Is this a game to you? You know what I’m risking to be here? You know what I’ve sacrificed?
你觉得这是游戏吗？你知道我在这里冒得风险吗？你知道我 失去了什么吗？
Nǐ juédé zhè shì yóuxì ma? Nǐ zhīdào wǒ zài zhèlǐ mào dé fēngxiǎn ma? Nǐ zhīdào wǒ shīqùle shénme ma?
THE TRANSLATOR: (staggered) Is this just a game to you? This is my life. You know what I’m risking to be here? You know what I’ve sacrificed?
RICHARD: Could you—
JULIE: Will someone PLEASE FUCKING TRANSLATE?
THE TRANSLATOR: Gee, I’m trying.
EVA: It wasn’t her. It was me. I said that.
不是她。是我。是我说的。
Bùshì tā. Shì wǒ. Shì wǒ shuō de.
THE TRANSLATOR: (staggered) It wasn’t her. It was me. I said t
hat.
EVA: It wasn’t her. She didn’t know. I mistranslated. I wanted you to say yes. I was wrong. I’m sorry.
不是她。她不知道。我翻译错了。我为了要你答应。我错了 对不起。
Bùshì tā. Tā bù zhīdào. wǒ fānyì cuòle. wǒ wèile yào nǐ dāyìng. wǒ cuòle duìbùqǐ.
THE TRANSLATOR: (staggered) It wasn’t her. She didn’t know. I mistranslated. I wanted you to say yes. I was wrong. I’m sorry.
JULIE: What are you saying to him? Evie, what are / you—
EVA: (breaking down) I mistranslated.
JULIE: What? When?
EVA: I mistranslated.
Time shift. Dao and Richard exit.
JULIE: The fuck were you thinking, Evie?
EVA: It was—
JULIE: You realize you could have jeopardized our entire fucking case? What the fuck were you thinking?
EVA: I just—I knew you really needed his testimony, and I just thought it’d be, like, more efficient—
JULIE: More efficient?? You thought that mistranslating what I was saying to my fucking client, you thought emotionally manipulating him would be more efficient?
EVA: I mean, it was, wasn’t it? I’m the one who got him here!
JULIE: By lying to him!
EVA: I didn’t lie, I just said she probably already knew about his denouncement, so she’d stand by him no matter what, I mean, you’re the one who brought her up in your opening remarks when he said he didn’t want his family involved, now you’re like badgering him about his time in prison, which he clearly doesn’t wanna / talk about—
JULIE: For the last fucking time, Eva, you are not a fucking lawyer. I need him to talk about the abuse, it’s how we demonstrate grievous harm. See, that’s a legal strategy. You telling my client that his wife would never leave him, that’s a naïve and frankly fucking idiotic statement, one that could now fuck up my case, to say nothing of my client’s life.
Beat.
EVA: Is he is still gonna testify?
JULIE: I don’t know, fuck, I don’t know. (beat) Where the fuck am I gonna get a Mandarin translator in Dallas?
THE TRANSLATOR: You called?
EVA: Julie, I—I can still do it.
THE TRANSLATOR: I’m always available.
JULIE: Are you fucking crazy, Evie? I can’t put you up on the stand with him now, you have completely destroyed your credibility.
EVA: No, no, I can still help you with this, Jules, if you just let me talk to him—
JULIE: No.
EVA: I can fix it, if you’d just—
JULIE: You can’t fix it by talking. Sometimes things get broken, and no amount of talking is gonna magically fix it. (beat) Now, I have a justifiably pissed-off client to manage and a translator to find, so would you please just get the fuck out of here.
Beat.
EVA: Well, that’s just—that’s … fine. (beat) I mean, I’m just sorry I can’t continue helping you wage, like, your whole war against, against Chinese tyranny.
Beat.
JULIE:… I don’t like your tone, there, Evie.
EVA: What tone is that, Jules?
JULIE: What—
EVA: What might I be insinuating there, with my tone?
JULIE:… Jesus, Evie. Really?
EVA: Well, like, I don’t know, I’m asking you, what might I be insinuating?
JULIE: Oh, right. Because, right. Because I chose a career, in, in international litigation, yeah, that’s about right, as an elaborate revenge plot, is that the fucking implication?
EVA: Oh, no, because it’s like just a total coincidence that two months after—
JULIE: Jesus—
EVA:—two months after we put her in the fucking ground—
JULIE: Jesus, Eva.
EVA:—and you call me up to be your translator, I mean, what was the idea here, you give me this bailout, and we, we take on our Chinese oppressor, sisters, hand in hand—
JULIE: You are a fucking child.
EVA: No, no, I was. I was a fucking child, and you left, you left me with that woman.
JULIE: What the fuck was I supposed to do?
EVA: Get me out of there.
JULIE: And do what? Raise a 10-year-old? As a freshman? Does that sound like a reasonable fucking solution to you, Eva?
EVA: You … you’ve could’ve done something.
JULIE: Like what?
EVA: Like, like visited once in a while—that was the time for a fucking bailout, Jules—you could’ve done something, you could’ve—I needed you and you left me, you left me alone in a foreign country with a fucking monster, and it’s worse what you did, because she was just ignorant, okay, she was an ignorant tyrant, but you fucking knew, you knew what she was like, and you left me anyway. And I’m really messed up now, Jules, she messed me up good, and it’s too late, there’s too much history, I’m all fucked up and you can’t fix me.
Beat.
JULIE: Well, Evie, you know, now that you’ve alerted me to the sheer magnitude of my crimes against you, systematically fucking all of my colleagues does seem like a mature response. (beat) What do you do for money?
EVA: I can’t …
JULIE: Why?
EVA: Because you won’t—
JULIE: I won’t? I won’t what? I won’t be proud of you?
Eva exits.
JULIE: Is that it, Evie? I won’t be proud? I won’t be fucking proud?
A long beat. Jane enters.
JANE: Bad time?
JULIE: Couldn’t be better.
Beat.
JANE: I’ve been authorized to offer you a revised figure.
JULIE: We reject it.
JANE: It’s twenty.
Beat.
JULIE: He was really something on the stand, your guy. ‘I don’t remember, maybe an intern did it.’
JANE: It’s reasonable doubt.
JULIE: Yeah, but, you gotta admit, the jury’s gonna loathe that guy. I couldn’t have dreamt of a better villain.
JANE: You didn’t pin him. Not beyond reasonable doubt.
JULIE: Then why the revised figure?
JANE: I’m trying to help you.
JULIE: Ha. (beat) We reject your offer.
JANE: Julie. Come on. You’re on a crusade at the expense of your clients and you know it, all they want is / compensation for—
JULIE: Don’t tell me what’s in my client’s best interests.
JANE:—what they’ve endured, what kind of humanitarian are you? (beat) You once asked me how I sleep at night.
JULIE: Yeah.
JANE: I sleep at night in the knowledge that small deeds are better than sweeping gestures. I sleep at night because I get these behemoths to play by the rules. And that’s hard, Julie. That’s harder than whatever it is you people do. ‘Fighting the good fight.’
Beat.
JULIE: We’re rejecting your offer.
JANE: Well. Worth a shot. (beat) If you ever decide to join us soulless corporate sharks, Chen, do let me know. Honestly, I think you’d be better suited to it. It has a kind of moral clarity that humanitarianism precludes.
Jane exits. A weird shift.
THE TRANSLATOR: Hi.
JULIE: Fucking—!
THE TRANSLATOR: Sorry.
JULIE: Christ. You scared the shit out of me. (beat) Oh, you’re the—
THE TRANSLATOR: That’s me.
Beat.
JULIE: Did you … just get here?
THE TRANSLATOR: That’s a funny question.
JULIE: It is?
THE TRANSLATOR: You’re aware, I assume, that your conception of time has certain linguistic aspects.
JULIE: Uh. Does it?
THE TRANSLATOR: Yes, well, English relies largely on tenses to situate things in time—did you just get here, for instance. Mandarin, on the other hand relies largely on context. A shared understanding of where events fall in time. So to translate from Mandarin to English, you also have to translate from objective time to, well,
grammatical time. You have to build your own structure. I just think that’s … funny.
Beat.
JULIE: You’re a pretty weird guy, huh.
THE TRANSLATOR: (laughing) I guess I am.
Beat.
JULIE: Listen, uh, I don’t have time to get anyone else, my translator quit like two hours ago, so I’m kind of scrambling here. Just, be as one-to-one as possible, okay? Don’t embellish.
THE TRANSLATOR: Of course.
JULIE: And I don’t really have time to give you the context, so. You don’t have to understand the case, is what I’m saying.
THE TRANSLATOR: Sure.
JULIE: But, uh, you don’t happen to have any strong feelings about the Chinese Communist Party, do you?
THE TRANSLATOR: I don’t have any strong feelings.
JULIE: Oh. Good.
Beat.
THE TRANSLATOR: Do you swear to tell the whole truth, in the name of God?
你向上帝发誓，你所说的全部都是事实吗？
Nǐ xiàng shàngdì fāshì, nǐ suǒ shuō de quánbù dōu shì shìshí ma?
DAO: Yes.
是。
Shì.
Beat.
Julie walks up.
THE TRANSLATOR: What happened to the other translator?
Beat.
JULIE: Family emergency.
THE TRANSLATOR: That’s a real shame.
JULIE: Yeah. It is. (beat, out to the jury) The decision you make here today is going to set a very important precedent. Not just here in Texas, but around the world. So I appeal now to your human decency. I want you to listen to what Dao has suffered. And I want you to imagine, were you in his shoes, what you’d hope a jury would decide. The world is watching you. (back to Dao) Mr Li. How long were you held in detention?
THE TRANSLATOR: How long were you held in detention?
你被拘留了多久？
Nǐ bèi jūliú le duōjiǔ?
DAO: From 2006 to 2011, for 53 months.
从二零零六年到二零一一年，总共五十三个月。
Cóng èr líng líng liu nián dào èr líng yī yī nián, zoňggòng wušhísāngè yuè.
THE TRANSLATOR: From 2006 to 2011, for 53 months.
JULIE: And during that time, you lost your ability to walk?
THE TRANSLATOR: And during that time, you lost your ability to walk?
在这期间，你是不是失去了行走的能力？
Zài zhè qījiān, nǐ shìbushì shīqùle xíngzǒu de nénglì?
DAO: Yes.
是。
Shì.
THE TRANSLATOR: Yes.
JULIE: How did that happen?
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